Presence and digital tourism

This paper provides an introduction to digital tourism as mediated by presence research as a means to create substantive user experiences (UX) for visitors. Tourism is a rich and varied socio-economic activity that permeates our global society. Digital tourism is the digital support of the tourist experience. In this paper we introduce and survey both fields and introduce a number of examples of tourist experiences based on our blended spaces approach. Cutting across this is the sense of presence that visitors can experience in real or digital tourist experiences. We conclude the paper with a discussion of designing the user experience in blended tourist spaces.